sachindia wrote:Recently discovered prehistoric rock paintings on small islands off the northern coast of Norway have archaeologists puzzled. The predominant theory about northern cave paintings was that they were largely a description of the current diets of the painters. This theory cannot be right, because the painters must have needed to eat the sea animals populating the waters north of Norway if they were to make the long journey to and from the islands, and there are no paintings that unambiguously depict such creatures. Each of the following, if true, weakens the argument against the predominant theory about northern cave paintings EXCEPT:

This means we need to prove that the THEORY IS INCORRECT
So, if we show that the paintings actually did not describe the diet of the painters, we get the answer.

A. Once on these islands, the cave painters hunted and ate land animal - Weakens
B. Parts of the cave paintings on the islands did not survive the centuries. -Weakens
C. The cave paintings that were discovered on the islands depicted many land animals - Weakens
D. Those who did the cave paintings that were discovered on the islands had unusually advanced techniques of preserving meats- We don't really want to know the techniques.
E. The cave paintings on the islands were done by the original inhabitants of the islands who ate the meat of land - now if the people who ate the meat of land were originally the inhabitants - we prove that the paintings do not actually depict their diet ?
animals.

vk_vinayak wrote:Let's dissect the question stem first:

Each of the following, if true, weakens the argument against the predominant theory about northern cave paintings EXCEPT

Argument against predominant Theory: Predominant theory cannot be right.

Weaken "Predominant theory cannot be right" EXCEPT. => Support Predominant Theory Except.

So, if an argument validates a predominant theory, cross it off.

All arguments, except C, support predominant theory. IMO C.

Let us know the OA and OE.

sachindia wrote: Recently discovered prehistoric rock paintings on small islands off the northern coast of Norway have archaeologists puzzled. The predominant theory about northern cave paintings was that they were largely a description of the current diets of the painters. This theory cannot be right, because the painters must have needed to eat the sea animals populating the waters north of Norway if they were to make the long journey to and from the islands, and there are no paintings that unambiguously depict such creatures.

[Summary: The passage states that according to predominant theory the artists paint what they ate. But this cannot be true since they did not paint the animals populating the waters of Norway because they needed to eat them when they travel between islands.

Analysis: Is stating so, the author assumes that while on sea trip the artists eat sea animals.]

Each of the following, if true, weakens the argument against the predominant theory about northern cave paintings EXCEPT:

[Question stem asks us to pick an option which does not weaken the conclusion.]

A. Once on these islands, the cave painters hunted and ate land animals.
This weakens the conclusion by stating that painters ate when they were on land and did not eat when they were on sea.
B. Parts of the cave paintings on the islands did not survive the centuries.
This option weakens the conclusion by stating that may be painters painted the paintings and the paintings are now missing.
C. The cave paintings that were discovered on the islands depicted many land animals.
This option states that paintings depicted many land animals which says that painted fed on land animals and fails to connect to a scenario when the painters are travelling on sea. This does not hurt the argument. Thus, correct.
D. Those who did the cave paintings that were discovered on the islands had unusually advanced techniques of preserving meats.
This option directly attacks the assumption by stating that painter preserved meat from land and thus, did not require to hunt sea animals.
E. The cave paintings on the islands were done by the original inhabitants of the islands who ate the meat of land animals.
This option also directly attacks the conclusion by stating that paintings were made by painters who only ate land animals.